Friday, June 27, 2008

This question seems obsolete now since Obama did win the primaries. But are they really that different? I am not so sure. The only real difference I see between them is that Obama voted against the Iraq war. Now, this also seems to be a point of contention as Bill Clinton said "You said in 2004 there was no difference between you and George Bush on the war, and you took that speech you're now running on off your Web site in 2004. There's no difference in your voting record and Hillary's ever since. Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen,". Obama is slowly losing my admiration as he turns into the person he once criticized. I admired him for bringing in most of his campaign money from small donors and not from Washington lobbyists or hedge funds. But now, apparently Clinton is "introducing" him to her top donors. He fell a notch right there. Being African American, I though he would be able to bring people of different races together. But after reading this NY Times article, I not only feel angry but sad. Sad for those muslims who had reached out to him and seen hope, only to be rebuffed. Some people say they like him because he is different from Clinton on issues that matter most. What issues? If it is war mongering, then sorry to say, I am not so sure Obama will not take us to war again. He did say that he would leave all options on the table when it comes to Iran. Finally, his speech at AIPAC drove me mad. I understand that he needs Jewish votes, but this strong partisan support for Israel made my blood boil. Any time I see a government offering unstinted support to a country, something is awfully wrong. Support should be offered based on the issue at hand, not because you have been allies forever or because you will lose some religious votes. The last thing America needs is to go to war with a country like Palestine in order to support Israel. Are we really going to see change? The democrats control the congress, if indeed they were interested in changing something, it should have happened a year ago. But has anything changed since they took over congress last year? No. Is anything going to change if they win the election this year? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is for sure, my hope is dwindling and dwindling fast. I miss Kucinich.